“Ah, yeah.He was never the happy-go-lucky person of the group, but right before he graduated, his dad died, and it changed him.His mom was depressed for a long time, and he took care of his sisters.Mostly financially, but they also stayed with him for a while.”
My heart ached for him, but I knew his private life was none of my business and our relationship was purely professional.As long as he made sure I got to keep my girls, he could be as cold and unemotional as he wanted to be.“You-know-who showed up at the house.He wants to keep the girls for the weekend.”
There was a moment of silence, and I knew I wouldn’t want to hear what Malena would say next.“This is a good thing, isn’t it?He’s finally showing interest.”
Nope, definitely didn’t think it was a good thing.“But why now?He hasn’t even called once since he moved out.He’s only ever acknowledged them when he needs them to serve a purpose.”
Any other time, he yelled at them if they dared to breathe too loudly.His callous treatment of our daughters was why I’d finally pulled up my big girl panties and asked for a divorce.Little had I known that he’d already been seeing someone else.And I suspected he’d been having affairs throughout our whole marriage, since there were a suspicious number of late nights and unexplained absences when I couldn’t reach him.
“Maybe he’s realized how much he’s missing out on.”
“Maybe.”
“You know what that means, though, right?”
“That I’ll be feeling sorry for myself all weekend?”
“Nope.It means we’re going out.”
I almost started crying again.“I’d rather spend a day with Ray.”
Ray was our maintenance guy at the office.He was great at his job and nice, but he loved to show us photos of his pets.And I used that term loosely, since he loved taxidermy and his house was filled to the brim with stuffed squirrels, foxes, a bear, a few dogs, cats, and birds that he all called his pets.
They had names, and he had plenty of pictures of them.None of us wanted to be the one to call him when something was broken.As a result, we hadn’t had a working toilet in weeks and used the one at the hair salon next door.
“Don’t be so dramatic.If you want, we could do dinner on Saturday and then go back to your place.Something low-key.”
That actually sounded nice.I couldn’t remember the last time I had a meal that wasn’t cold.“I guess I could do that.”
“I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
My phone rang again as soon as I lowered my arm.Seeing it was Vance, I picked up immediately.
“What did he say?”
Not one for formalities either, he got straight to the point.“Your husband wants the kids this weekend.For now, that means you have to let them stay with him.”When I took a deep breath to argue, he jumped in before I could get a sound out.“Within reason, of course.I suggested your husband take them on the weekends and you get them during the week.”
“I’m not giving up all my weekends with them.”
It was the only time I had to spend time with them.
“You have to give in somewhere.And this is an opportunity for us to give him something so we’ll be able to ask for something in return.”
He clearly thought he’d been doing me a favor.But this was the worst outcome other than not having the kids at all.“What you’re saying is that you negotiated a deal without checking with me first.I’m not okay with this.Call him back and tell him Hank can have every second weekend.I’m not giving up all my time with my girls.”
“If that’s what you want.”
He sounded funny, but I was too angry to decipher what mood he was in.“It is definitely what I want.”
“I’ll get it done.”
He hung up and then sent a text ten minutes later that they had negotiated every second weekend.How he’d accomplished that when I knew my husband never compromised was a mystery to be solved another day.
For now, I had to wake up Elana and then pick up Addy.And I only had twenty minutes to accomplish both.Elana needed at least thirty minutes to wake up.Before that, she was more demon than child.
The drive was five minutes, giving me five to wake my daughter up, five to coax her into going to the toilet, and then another five to somehow get her into the car.
